Our son Rowan left this world December 15th, 2016 at the age of ten years old. In those 10 years, he spent a third of his life in the hospital including his last 6 months, as he went through 2 bone marrow transplants in a row. He taught us so many lessons through his life long battle though. He was tough as nails, with a heart of gold, and the faith of 100 men combined. Not a day went by that he didn't say "I love my life!" And he truly meant it.

"Our Little Trooper"

"Let me live, that I may praise you!" Psalm 119:175

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Kindness: You give it, you get it...but sometimes you get blown away by it...

Rowan was set to attend a fundraiser for Methodist Children's Hospital today. He painted a couple of his Rowan originals, and took them with him to donate to the raffle. He also wanted to make a couple of special ones for a friend there. She has been dealing with a lot lately, and he wanted to cheer her up. Here are the two pictures that he painted for her.

Here he is with them, once we framed them for her last night.

And, finally, here he is giving them to her today at the event. The best part of this was his explanation to her. Rowan told her: "I know you've been having a rough time, and things might seem like the first picture, but they actually are getting better every day and God will start making it look like the second picture, ok?" Priceless.

A few moments later she returned with a gift she had for him. Rowan loves the Beatles, and she has dedicated the song "Beautiful Boy" to him often, so this was very special:) It was actually kind of ironic too, because the lyrics "Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer. Every day, in every way, it's getting better and better..." mimicked Rowan's message to her today through his paintings.

As if that wasn't enough today, a few minutes later someone showed up with a surprise gift for Rowan. Pretty much a stranger, other than through Facebook, but not anymore. Rowan has a fascination with old things. He always tells me that he wants to try out an old rotary phone, or that he wished he had a typewriter, things like that. Things that he has never even seen in real life, but is just curious about them for some reason (his old soul maybe?). Well, through Facebook, I had mentioned that he loves typewriters...and look what she showed up with today...

and just look at his face when he saw it!

A 50 year old blue manual typewriter!

With the sweetest note ever, typed on the paper...

Rowan hugged Rosie and her daughter, as he just beamed from ear to ear.

His very own old fashioned typewriter. He told them, "This just isn't going on my 'special shelf', it's going in my 'special chest'!"

He was so happy to try it out.

He typed his name first, and it was like a dream come true for him!

Thank you Rosie from the bottom of our hearts.

and so nice to meet your daughter too.

After you both left, he typed and typed and typed...

He let his friends try it out too. They were all amazed that this is how we used to write papers and letters, before computers.

Rowan looked up at Ian and I at one point and said: "I am never texting again! I am just typing notes to people, that's it!" It was adorable. Then he said, "I'm keeping this forever! I'm going to pass it down to my own children!"

The lesson I learned today is that it doesn't take much to show kindness...a painting, a sweet message to a friend, a song, an old typewriter from a garage sale...but, if you give kindness, you get it back...and sometimes you get blown away by it. Like we did today:)

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In Memory of Rowan's 11th Birthday

*Click the link above to purchase a gift in memory of Rowan's 11th birthday.*

In memory of Rowan's 11th birthday, July 21, we are hosting a virtual birthday party to benefit Methodist Children's Hospital (MCH) in San Antonio, where Rowan spent much of his childhood battling for his life. All gifts purchased through this registry will be delivered in person to MCH on Rowan's birthday, July 21, 2017. The toys will be donated to the Child Life Department at MCH and placed in the new play rooms at MCH for many pediatric patients to enjoy during their hospitalizations. The toys on this registry represent a few of Rowan's favorite things. We all know Rowan had such a huge heart for giving and making the good, so this party in his memory is a way of carrying out his legacy by celebrating and doing the things that mattered most to him. Thank you for being a part of carrying out Rowan's legacy, making the good, and honoring Rowan's powerful life while remembering his 11th birthday on July 21, 2017.

On top of the Mountain...

Rowan climbed...rather he ran, to the top of Enchanted Rock this past Summer, just a few weeks after getting out of the hospital again. Our hero!

Just a little of the hardware...hidden under his gown.

Rowan has a g-tube in his stomach for feedings, a broviac central iv line in his chest for nightly intravenous feedings and medicines, and a vp shunt in his head to drain excess spinal fluid from his brain into his abdomen.

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In ICU, post vp shunt surgery...precious angel.

In October of 2010, Rowan started having severe headaches again. He had two spinal taps, just three days apart due to increased cranial pressures (double or triple what they should be). They removed over 55 ccs of excess spinal fluid trying to relieve his headaches. Eventually, when the pain was just too severe and his pressures weren't coming down, he finally had to have a vp shunt placed. When he woke up the next day, he told one of the doctors that he would give him a free autograph for helping get rid of his headaches. A couple days later, he made a sign for me to put in the window of his hospital room, that he says said "Open for business. Autographs $15. Free drink with purchase".

Another battle wound...this one from his Chiari malformation brain surgery.

In January of 2009, Rowan had craniectomy/laminectomy surgery to correct a brain malformation that was obstructing his flow of spinal fluid and causing headaches and other neurological symptoms. They removed a small piece of the base of his skull, shrunk up the bottom portion of his brain, and removed part of his C1 and C2 vertebrae to free up space for the spinal fluid to flow. When we told Rowan that he would be going in to the hospital to get his brain fixed, he thought for a minute and then said, "Will I see Logan (favorite nurse) and can I eat baby ice cubes when I wake up?" When we said yes, he simply said "Ok, Let's do it!"